Out of favour batter Usman Ghani has held the Afghanistan Cricket Board accountable for corruption in a series of tweets. This comes after the opener was ignored in the upcoming bilateral series versus Bangladesh. (More Cricket News)
“After careful consideration, I have decided to take a break from Afghanistan Cricket. The corrupt leadership in the cricket board has compelled me to step back,” he tweeted.
He has vowed to not return to cricket until the current ACB management is stripped of its duties.
“I will continue my hard work and eagerly await the right management and selection committee to be put in place. Once that happens, I will proudly return to play for Afghanistan. Until then, I am backing myself from representing my beloved nation,” the snubbed cricketer wrote.
Usman has also expressed his disappointment on the lack of transparency regarding his axing.
“Moreover, the chief selector had no satisfactory response for my exclusion from all formats,” he wrote on the micro-blogging site.
Ghani has featured in 17 ODIs and 35 T20Is for Afghanistan. He has scored 435 runs at an average of 25.58 and 786 runs at an average of 25.35, respectively. His last game in Afghan colours came against Pakistan in March 2023, and he delivered underwhelming returns of 7 and 15 from two T20Is.
The 26-year-old is replaced by veteran wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Shahzad. Shahzad has made a comeback to international cricket after a hiatus of 19 months, on the back of his outstanding form and improved fitness. He racked up 264 runs at an average of 44 in the Green Afghanistan One Day Cup and 440 runs at 88 in the regional Miwais Nika three-day tournament.
Afghanistan are supposed to go head to head with Bangladesh in a three match ODI series, and a two-match T20I series, starting from July 5. The matches are to be held in Chattogram and Sylhet, respectively.
